Man's Best Friend
by RedVinesFTW
Summary: It's Lily Evans' birthday, and her boyfriend, James Potter, hopes to give her something she can remember forever. Cue romance, love, surprises and maybe a little bit of humor from Sirius Black. One-shot. JPxLE. Rated T.


**A/N: A plot bunny I've had for a while.**

**I hope you enjoy this very short one-shot. Please review.**

Man's Best Friend

James Potter woke up in bed next to his girlfriend. She was still fast asleep, her red hair fanned out on the pillow in waves, and her perfect lips pouted. He touched her face with his long fingers, revelling in the softness of her cheek and the beauty of her face. He still couldn't believe that she had said yes, even though it had been a couple of years previously. Her eyelids fluttered open and he was hit with the magnificent sparkling of her emerald green orbs. "Hi," she whispered, taking in the situation and the proximity of how close he was.

"Hey," he whispered back nervously. Even though he knew she loved him back, he still felt that she could do better, and that one day she would realise this fact. "Happy birthday, Lily." He stared into her eyes, wondering what her reaction would be to her birthday present.

She blushed when she noticed he was staring intently at her. "Thanks," she whispered before reaching up and gently placing her lips on his.

The kiss was gentle, but it portrayed words that they couldn't speak. She was trying to get across how much she loved him and he was trying to get across how much he needed her as a constant in his life. "Thanks again," she said, a big grin taking over her face.

"No, thank _you_," he replied, kissing her on the cheek before shoving the covers off his body. He placed his feet onto the cold floor. "If you want your present, you're going to have to get up, love."

Lily immediately threw back the covers on her side of the bed as well and grabbed some fresh clothes before heading into their en-suite to get changed. He pulled on some muggle clothes and quickly pulled his fingers through his hair, trying to make it flatter than it usually was.

After a few minutes the pair was ready to apparate. "I need you to hold onto me, okay?" James asked, gazing into his girlfriend's face.

"I trust you," she smiled, gripping onto his arm tightly, but not so tight that it would hurt him.

"Off we go," he replied, the nauseous feeling already multiplying in his gut.

"Off we go," she repeated, her face turning a pale green colour.

-x-x-x-

The dog padded around in its cosy cell, preferring to try and get the attention of any muggle he could. He whined and pawed at the glass, his big eyes looking up into the beady ones of humans. How he wished he'd chosen a better animagus. You don't see stags or rats in animal rescue centres, but you see plenty of dogs. He rolled his eyes in his sockets and laid down on the floor, resting his head in his paws and looking sorry for himself. If only someone would take notice of him.

The muggles kept walking past, eyeing each cage and its contents before moving onto the next one, never batting an eyelid at the poor animals they had already passed.

Sirius still sat in his cage, examining each muggle that walked past, his nose turned up. He had a plan and he hoped that, unlike many of his other plans, this one worked out. His plan was to wait until an unsuspecting muggle chose him to take home with them, and as soon as he was taken out his cage, make a run for it until he was somewhere secluded before turning back into a human.

He licked his paw and tried to make himself look more presentable and attractive to a human, but he found out that this was hard when you were a dog. If he had been a human, there would be a line of females all wanting to take him home, he thought to himself, but you can't just be a dog one minute and a human the next.

-x-x-x-

They stopped suddenly and Lily opened her eyes, hoping to find herself in a romantic restaurant, but instead finding herself at the back of some dodgy shop next to a couple of overflowing bins. "Lovely," she muttered, her lips becoming one thin line on her face.

"That isn't your birthday present," James reassured her with a small chuckle. He grabbed hold of her hand and led her for ten minutes until they were in front of an animal rescue centre.

Her eyes lit up and she smiled, before hurrying inside and pressing her hands against the glass of every cell, James following her every move. He pointed to a cell and said, "You can have any one you want."

Her eyes widened and she walked through the centre in a quick pace. James watched her closely, before deciding to have a look around himself. He had been past three cells when he stopped abruptly, his face frozen. He pressed his nose up against the glass, getting a closer view of the dog that was laid on the ground, it's black fur shining in the artificial light. "Sirius?" he asked, a bewildered look on his face. "No, it can't be," he muttered to himself. "Sirius wouldn't be stupid enough to get himself locked up."

The dog barked, his dark eyes staring up into James'.

Lily came rushing up to James then, her eyes shining with adoration. "I've found one I really like," she said quickly, before noticing that James wasn't paying attention to her and seemed to be having a staring contest with a dog. "This one's cute, too," she murmured, pointing at the black-haired dog.

"This one isn't cute," James muttered, still not taking his eyes off the dog. His eye twitched when he saw the dog bear it's teeth slightly. "But it is your choice, Lily."

He finally looked away and wrapped his arm around Lily's waist before pressing his lips to her cheek. "Well, I've always been a dog person," she thought aloud. "Can we have this one, please?"

"Sure." James smiled at her and went to inform the owner of their choice. The dog was let out of the cage, and Lily started to fuss it, patting it's head and stroking it's soft fur.

Lily led the dog outside on its new lead, and James started searching for another dog that was nearly identical to Sirius. Lily couldn't know that he and his friends were a group of illegal animagi and so he searched for another dog, soon spotting another black one that had similar features. He asked the owner to look after it for a few minutes and went outside to join his girlfriend.

"What took you so long?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

"I just had to get some poop bags; I think he might need the toilet, so I'll go take him." He took hold of the lead and took him around the building. "Sirius Orion Black, change back into a human immediately," he hissed when they were out of sight.

"How did you know it was me?" Sirius asked when he was back into his human form. "Am I that good-looking as a dog?"

James rolled his eyes. "No, it was the fact that I've spent almost every full moon with you as animagi, I should know what your form looks like by now."

"So you're sure it wasn't my shiny coat of fur?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"What about my perfectly white teeth?"

"It wasn't that either."

Sirius was quiet for a few moments before he saw the bags in James' hand. "So, how're you going to fabricate some dog poo?" he asked, nodding at the bag. "I mean, it has to look authentic."

"Sirius, I am not going to ask you to poo in the bag."

"What made you think I wanted to poo in the bag?"

"I didn't think you wanted to poo in the bag."

"Then why say, 'Sirius, I am not going to ask you to poo in the bag," Sirius said in a bad imitation of James.

"I don't sound like that," James argued.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I should know what I sound like."

"Are you positive?"

"For the last time, Sirius, yes, I am positive."

"You're having a baby?" Sirius gasped. "How come no one told me?"

"What?" James asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Since when am I having a baby?"

"Well, you just told me you were," Sirius pointed out.

James shook his head. "I didn't say I was pregnant, I said I was positive."

"So you have H.I.V?"

"No, I don't have that either."

"Well, it's either having a baby or having H.I.V, so which is it?" Sirius asked.

"Neither, Sirius. Now would you please shut up?"

"Okay."

"Thank you," James muttered. "Wait here."

"Okay."

James walked stealthily around the corner and saw that Lily had her back turned to the entrance of the animal rescue centre. He walked in quickly and greeted the owner before placing the lead around the new dog and leading it out. "Hey, Lily."

"Hey," she replied. She smiled at him and took the lead out of his hands. "Have you thought of a name for him?"

"No, it's your present after all."

"What about Snuffles?" she asked, stroking the dogs head.

"Sure, Lily, anything you want."

-x-x-x-

Sirius walked around the corner and saw that James and Lily were still there, so he walked over to them. "Hey, Prongs. Hey, Evans," he greeted.

"Hey, Padfoot," James replied, when Sirius was at his side.

"Awww, look at the adorable doggy." He squatted beside the dog and stroked his stomach. "Y'know, I think if I was a dog I'd look like this," Sirius mentioned, quickly winking at James.

"I don't think so, Black," Lily said, venom colouring her tone. "If you were any animal at all, I think you'd be a pig, because of the way you ate at breakfast time during our Hogwarts years."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "It wasn't my fault the food was good."

"You didn't have to show the whole table you appreciated it though." She paused and turned to James. "Are we going home now, James?"

Before James could answer Sirius said, "Oh, and by the way, Evans, James told me you two were having a baby."

James groaned and Lily's mouth opened. "How did you know?" she asked James quietly.

"What?" James asked incredulously.

"How did you know I was pregnant?" she repeated.

"I didn't," replied James in disbelief. "You're pregnant?"

"Yeah," she whispered, her eyes glazing over with tears.

James picked her up in his arms and squeezed her gently. "How long for?" he whispered when he had placed her down on her feet.

"A couple of weeks," she said with a small smile. "I was going to tell you tonight."

"This is amazing news, Lily!" He hugged her again and kissed her on top of her head. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," she replied, the tears finally falling down her flushed cheeks.

"I could become a psychic," Sirius pointed out with a grin, clapping his best friend on the back. "Congratulations mate."

**A/N: It's not my best work, but I hope you liked it.**

**I didn't know how animal rescue centres work as I've never been in one, but I hope you can overlook that fact.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Please review!**


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